Nashville Passes Budget Including Nearly $1.5 Million For Illegal Alien Aid & A Grocery Tax Cut

Image Credit: Nashville.gov & Canva

Tennessee Conservative News [By Olivia Lupia] –

The Metro Nashville Council voted to approve a modified version of Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year which has drawn criticism from conservatives across the state as it includes grants totaling approximately $1.5 million for two nonprofit organizations known to aid illegal aliens. Also included was a reduction of the local portion of grocery sales tax, though that may not quite be the accomplishment it is being heralded as.

Per coverage from The Tennessee Star, the $3.8 billion budget was a substitute package filed by Councilmember Kyonzte Toombs to replace O’Connell’s submitted version from last month. Passing 35-2, it made some modest cuts and redirected about $8.6 million to increase funding for items like eviction services, homeless programs, and the Nashville Fire Department.

But the amended budget preserved a majority of the grants proposed by O’Connell, including the $735,000 for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and $718,000 for Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors (TNJFON), both of which have long histories of using state and federal monies to implement left-wing immigration agendas and offering numerous kinds of assistance to illegal aliens in the state, including legal aid.

A spokesman for O’Connell initially told The Tennessee Star the money would not go toward legal representation or advocacy for illegal aliens, but Metro Clerk Austin Kyle later said the budget items are extensions of previously awarded grants which will now be structured as direct appropriations rather than through federal funding from the Biden-era American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) used from 2022-2026.

In 2022 ARPA grant proposals, TIRRC and TNJFON requested money to serve foreign-born Davidson County residents of “all immigration statuses” and said the nonprofits would seek to provide legal services or education for those seeking “protections from deportation”, asylum seekers, those seeking work permits, recipients of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

The Tennessee Star has since filed a public records request to obtain better clarity about precisely what will be funded in next year’s budget and “seeking Metro’s justification for the proposed spending.” Three departments and the Metro Council have confirmed receiving the request per the outlet.

Another notable feature of the budget was a half-cent local grocery tax cut which officials have estimated will save Nashville families around $72 per year.

This local tax savings effort comes after state lawmakers failed to pass a single bill creating a grocery tax exemption or elimination during the 2026 legislative session despite promises from Republican leadership to address the issue this year.

However, Virgil Davis Hunt of The Pamphleteer suggests that the grocery tax cut is not really a cut when factoring in other taxes already in play. “If the mayor of your city increased your grocery tax for sixteen months before decreasing it back down again, would you say he ‘cut taxes’?” Hunt questioned in a social media post.

“The 2024 transit referendum applied a 0.5% sales tax increase across the board, bringing Nashville’s effective grocery tax rate from 2.25% to 2.75%. The transit surcharge is technically not a grocery tax. But when you get your bill for 15 pounds of ground beef, the rate doesn’t distinguish,” he discerned. 

“In the mayor’s promotional materials advertising his grocery tax cut, he proclaims that the grocery tax rate in Nashville is currently 2.25% and that his cut will bring it down to 1.75% and save you about $70 per year. But with the conveniently omitted transit surcharge, his cut brings the effective rate right back to where it was sixteen months ago. O’Connell wants you to celebrate him for increasing a tax and then reducing it to where it started, and he wants you to believe that he deserves credit for making Nashville ‘more affordable’ for his effort.”

Meanwhile, gubernatorial candidate and current State Representative Monty Fritts (R-Kingston-District 32) has renewed his call for an immediate suspension of the $0.4 state grocery tax. 

“Why should we collect those four cents on every dollar you spend on groceries and build stadiums for the Titans or the Smokies, or give Starbucks $30 million? We’ve got to change that paradigm in Tennessee where everything goes to Nashville and then is redistributed back to the counties,” he said in a recent video.

Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.